We
are still fighting wars caused by the last time we had a Republican president
and a Republican congress at the
same time. Remember when that was?
No? Let me remind you; it was the time of flag waving jingoism, Red
scares, McCarthyism, the famous Kitchen Debates and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
You know, 1950's Americana. Don't believe me?
Just take a look at Afghanistan. The whole
reason we are at war in that country at all is because Ike was a selfish
leader
with absolutely zero foresight in foreign affairs.
In 1956 Kabul, Afghanistan held the International Trade Fair, a sort of
world's fair/exposition for countries to flaunt
their economic strengths and prowess. It was during the height of
the cold
war so the US wanted to "out do" the Soviets
with their exhibit. To do this Eisenhower enlisted master engineer
Buckminster Fuller to design one of his new-fangled,
cheap-as-dirt, geodesic domes to house the exhibit.
The
dome was to be easy to ship from the United States and able to be assembled
within a few days using unskilled
Afghani labor. Fuller's geodesic dome was the
highlight of the exposition so much so that the government of Afghanistan
pleaded with Eisenhower for the option to buy
the dome from the US with the intent to use it as an esthetic centerpiece
for Afghanistan's capital city. Ike, being
a complete wank, told Afghanistan no, and to seal his fate as our worst
diplomat
in history had the dome disassembled and shipped
back to the States (the shipping cost more than the dome itself!).
The Soviets seeing an opportunity to garner some
influence in the very strategically important Central Asian country
offered to build a highway for the Afghani government
as a gift. This eventually forged a solid relationship between
Kabul and Moscow and constant war in the country
since 1973.
A military
coup seeking to sever ties between Afghanistan and the Soviets took power
and created a republic in 1973.
Then, in 1978 another coup, this time by pro-Soviet
leftists, established powerful military and economic ties to Moscow.
The Soviets a year later overthrew the Kabul
leadership and installed an even more pro-Soviet regime and brought all
out war
in the country. President Ronald Reagan
saw an opportunity to weaken the "commies" and gave the Muhajadeen, a loose
alliance of native Afghans and fundamentalist
Arab transplants exiled to the region by countries like Saudi Arabia, some
$3 billion in weapons and cash to fight the Soviets.
By the time the Soviets withdrew in 1989 the US had stopped sending
money and support to the region and civil war
broke out between factions seeking control of the government with the now
infamous Taliban coming out on top. All of this was due to the fact
that the US government saw no reason to rebuild Afghanistan's destroyed
infrastructure in the wake of a war that we had supported. Needless
to say, the Taliban gave
refuge to Osama bin Laden (an ideological copy
and a Saudi-exile who was trained by the US government during the Soviet-Afghan
war) and his cohorts and they all hated the United States. Osama,
a very fundamentalist Muslim, saw
the US as a threat to Islam and developed an
expansive terrorist network with one goal in mind: war with the west.
Eisenhower
was not just limited to Afghanistan; he screwed up in Vietnam as well.
The US educated Ho Chi Min
asked Eisenhower to help him in negotiations
with France to grant Vietnam its independence from French colonial rule.
Ike told Ho Chi Min "no," citing that France
had suffered enough in World War II and needed Vietnam to remain a
political power. This, in turn, forced
Ho Chi Min to ask China (a country whom Vietnam had been at war with for
over
700 years and still has border disputes with
to this day) to help them gain their independence from France. France
went
to war in Vietnam and because the French have
become absolute pussies when it comes to fighting a war they had to
turn the reigns over to the US "observers."
The involvement of the observers led to an all out war and ended with our
ultimate withdrawal and left some 50,000 US and
countless millions of Vietnamese dead.
Eisenhower,
the policy wonk that he was, also screwed over South and Central Americas
by fronting wars for
United Fruit. He instituted insanely conceived
relationships with rebels in Indonesia leading to a military coup in 1965
and the ascension of President Suharto, a butcher
who murdered some 400,000+ of his own people in a US backed
fight for control of the country. Ike's
particular re-establishment of the Shah of Iran in 1953 set up the eventual
revolution
in that country and turned Iran into the "axis
of evil" (I hate that term) country that it is today. The list goes on...
I have
the feeling that the Bush Administration is just as shortsighted when it
comes to foreign policy issues. Add to
fact that Bush has the pleasure of a Republican
controlled congress this can only be a recipe for disaster. The policy
decisions that are being put forth today eerily
resemble those of Eisenhower's and sets in place a massive potential from
which we will experience blowback in a number
of situations around the world. These range from the way Bush and
his
cronies treat traditional allies like Germany
and France, to the little attention he is paying to actually rebuilding
Afghanistan
(not to mention his complete apathy towards capturing
Osama bin Laden) and his desire for war in Iraq that has him being outwitted
by a murderous authoritarian dictator. All in all, this does not bode well
for the future generations that will have
to fight a slew of wars in Central Asia and the
Mid-east as a result of Bush's bunglings.